Tech Today: Microsoft Redux? Google’s Antitrust Case Draws Parallels

Microsoft Redux? Google’s Antitrust Case Draws Parallels: The Federal Trade Commission’s broad investigation into whether Google abuses its dominance in search is drawing comparisons to the U.S. vs. Microsoft battle of the 1990s.

The WSJ argues that Google’s search engine stature in today’s Internet age is not dissimilar to Microsoft’s control of the Windows operating system. Both companies controlled technology that other players in the field can’t do without.

The new Google investigation is believed to include whether Google steers users to its network of ads and services at the expense of rival providers.

While the investigation may not lead to federal allegations of wrongdoing—the scope of antitrust law has significantly narrowed over the years—it remains the company’s most serious challenge to date. In the 1990s Microsoft avoided being broken up, the WSJ writes, but the ‘legal assault’ on the company very likely distracted the company from its core business and had a negative effect on Microsoft’s reputation.

Search Engine Land has a guide to past antitrust investigations against Google, starting with its 20007 purchase of DoubleClick. [WSJ, Search Engine Land]

Oh Tweet! Ads Coming to Your Twitter Feed: The Financial Times reports that Twitter is looking into building its ad revenue by pushing ‘promoted tweets’ into users’ main timeline. Currently such tweets appear via a search of a relevant term. Also on the table: Users may see tweets from certain brands they follow appear high in their stream even if the tweet was posted hours before. [Financial Times]

Yahoo’s CEO Survives Shareholder Meeting: Good news for CEO Carol Bartz. Not only did she survive yesterday’s annual shareholders meeting, but she got a big thumbs up from Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock who said that “we’re confident that Yahoo is headed in the right direction.” At the meeting Bartz touted cost-cutting as well as Yahoo’s video programs. Whether such efforts can make up for Yahoo’s losses in the search market remains to be seen. [WSJ]

LulzSec Hits Arizona Police: Positioning itself against the ‘anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona,’ the hacker group posted a random assortment of documents—court filings, email correspondence, a street slang dictionary—it claimed came from the Arizona police. A spokesman for the state vouched for their authenticity. TechCrunch says that the political nature of the attack seems like a change of direction for a group that claimed to be motivated by the “lulz,” or laughs. As yesterday’s WSJ story made clear, the stated philosophies guiding the actions of LulzSec and its fellow collective, Anonymous, remain in flux. [WSJ,Tech Crunch]

Back So Soon? Facebook Twins Launch New Suit: C’mon Winklevii! Yesterday you were taking your millions—and your hair—and leaving Facebook alone. Now we learn that although you won’t appeal the 2008 settlement that provided you and partner Divya Narendra with enough cash to fund Harvard’s crew team for the next century, you have decided to investigate whether Facebook ‘intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence’ during that same settlement. The WSJ says that Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss claim instant messages between Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the brothers shed new light on their relationship. The story continues… [WSJ, Los Angeles Times]